Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute researcher, Professor Geoff Head has been awarded a King’s Birthday Honour for service to medical research into high blood pressure diagnosis and management.
Geoff has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his significant contributions over four decades to blood pressure research and patient management.
This is fitting recognition for Geoff, whose contributions span research, leadership, mentoring and advocacy.
Geoff has received numerous awards for his work, including most recently the Paul Korner medal from the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia and the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance Mentor Award in 2021.
Over the course of his career, he has mentored more than 100 students and early to mid-career researchers, with his outstanding leadership and mentoring a hallmark of his career.
He also helped spearhead the MBS listing of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for patients with high blood pressure, helping to curb both the under- and over-diagnosis of hypertension in Australia.
Geoff and others from the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia undertook enormous work behind the scenes to support this listing. Underpinning this, was key research by Geoff and others which compared standard “office” measures of blood pressure with 24-hour measures of blood pressure in city and regional areas across the country. It found ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was recognised as a “superior prognostic method” for determining the risk of cardiovascular events and that the traditional clinic measurement model has some limitations, particularly with regards to white-coat hypertension.
Baker Institute Director, Professor Tom Marwick paid tribute to Geoff’s strong leadership and scientific excellence, which has helped to transform the lives of many junior scientists and to high blood management in Australia. “The Baker Institute community is extremely proud of Geoff’s longstanding commitment to medical research, to our scientists of tomorrow and to improving the health of Australians.”
